Joseph Commings

Who was Joseph Commings?

Joseph Commings was an American writer of locked room mysteries. He wrote a series of soft-core sex novels, but is best known for his locked-room mystery/impossible crime stories featuring Senator Brooks U. Banner."

Commings began writing in 1947, and was first published in 10-Story Detective magazine in March, 1947. After three stories, Commings also began writing for Ten Detective Aces. For some reason, the editors of both magazines thought it would be a good idea to have a different detective. Commings merely changed the name of Banner to Mayor Thomas Landin, but kept everything else the same. All stories that were first printed in Ten Detective Aces and that have since been reprinted have changed the name of Landin back to Banner."

By the 1950s, Commings submitted stories to Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, but Frederic Dannay didn't like the character of Banner, so Commings was never printed in EQMM. It wouldn't be until 1957 that Commings would be able to print another Banner story."

In 1957, Commings published stories in an offbeat mystery magazine, Mystery Digest. It was during this time that Commings would write his best-known story, The X Street Murders.